Please read these important notes before proceeding:

(We apologise that this is so long!)

When you apply for an account with Churches’ Mutual, we ask you provide information about yourself. This includes information about who you are, where you live, and who you bank with. This information is sent through our secure website to ‘CallCredit’ an external credit reference bureau who validates the information given and provides us with a report in order to satisfy identity checks and Anti-Money Laundering legislation.

Full details of how CMCU treats your personal information can be found on our Privacy Notice

If you are happy to provide Churches’ Mutual with information to use in this way and you have checked you are eligible to join please proceed to the account application page by pressing the ‘Click Here’ button below. If you are not willing to provide this information please contact us via the contact form on the Home page of this website but please be aware that we cannot open an account for you if we are unable to verify your identity.

Am I eligible to join?

To be eligible for membership of Churches’ Mutual Credit Union Ltd applicants must share a ‘common bond’ with existing members. Churches’ Mutual Credit Union Ltd offers individuals membership through association with the Anglican Churches of Great Britain, the Church of Scotland, the Methodist Church of Great Britain, the United Reformed Church, the Catholic Church in England & Wales and the Catholic Church in Scotland.

Please read the following statements carefully:

I am an elder, a lay or ordained minister or training for ministry in an Anglican Church in Great Britain, the Church of Scotland, the Methodist Church of Great Britain, the Catholic Church in England & Wales and the Catholic Church in Scotland or the United Reformed Church. (This category includes active or retired clergy and ministers, and elders of the Church of Scotland or the United Reformed Church).

I am an employee or trustee of a National, Regional or Local Church institution or office of the Anglican Churches of Great Britain the Church of Scotland, the Methodist Church of Great Britain, the Catholic Church in England & Wales and the Catholic Church in Scotland or the United Reformed Church.

I am an employee or trustee of a charity of the Anglican Churches of Great Britain, the United Reformed Church or of the Church of Scotland, the Catholic Church in England & Wales or the Catholic Church in Scotland (this includes Church Council members, and employees and trustees of church voluntary aided schools and academy trusts).

I am a household member of any of the above.

If you are able to answer YES to at least one of the above statements and once you have read the notes below:

If you cease to act as a trustee or employee at some point in the future you will be able to maintain your membership. The important thing is that you qualify at the point of joining CMCU.

Paying a Small Fee

Once you have completed the joining process you will be asked for a £10 debit card payment. £5 will be the joining fee (which is non-refundable) and £5 your initial deposit. Within two working days you will be contacted by email with more information on the next stage of account opening.

If you would like more information regarding the accounts, or if you are unsure if you qualify or you are a qualifying corporate entity please contact the credit union on admin@cmcu.org.uk

About

What is the Churches’ Mutual Credit Union Ltd. (CMCU)?

CMCU is a mutual society, a savings and loans co-operative owned and controlled by its members. It was formed in collaboration by the Church of England, the Church of Scotland, the Methodist Church of Great Britain, the Church in Wales and the Scottish Episcopal Church. It is run by a small but professional staff and governed by a volunteer board, which includes accountants, clergy, former regulators and experienced businessmen and women drawn from the participating denominations. In July 2016 the Credit Union extended its common bond to include eligible members of the United Reformed Church, and in January 2017 it was pleased to announced a further extension to eligible members of the Roman Catholic Church in England & Wales and in Scotland.

What are Credit Unions?

Credit Unions had their origins in ‘penny banks’ run by clergy in Italy a few hundred years ago, but it was a Lutheran Lay-Pastor Friedrich Raiffeisen who first gave them their modern form. He experimented with co-operative ‘village banks’ amongst poor communities in Germany in the 19th Century and established the model of savings and loan co-operatives functioning as mutual societies or ‘self help communities’. They spread from there to Italy and Canada and then across the border into the United States. They developed tremendously during the Great Depression as banks foreclosed on their customers and people looked for alternative forms of personal finance.

The first credit unions in Great Britain started in the 1960s amongst West Indian immigrants who found it difficult to access mainstream banks. Credit unions had no proper legal framework until the 1979 Credit Union Act, which served to kick-start the movement in Britain.

Credit Unions have a ‘Common Bond’, defining who can be members. This can be based on employment (all working for the same employer), association (for instance all members of a church) or on location – live and work in a particular locality. Since the Legislative Reform Order of 2012 it has been possible to mix and match categories of common bond. CMCU mixes an associational and an employment common bond.

Growth of the movement in Britain has been slow but is now accelerating as people look for a more ethical, ‘community building’ form of personal finance. The financial crisis has shown the need to diversify financial services in the UK and to re-build our once strong mutual sector. There are now more than 350 credit unions in Britain with a combined membership in excess of 1.5m